Town boss Mick McCarthy is hopeful top scorer Tom Lawrence will be fit enough to face Reading at Portman Road on Saturday with the on-loan Leicester man’s ankle injury not a serious problem. The Blues manager confirmed that new winger Danny Rowe is over the hip flexor problem which ruled him out of the Derby match.
"He had a scan and it didn’t show that he’d got any lasting damage,” McCarthy said regarding Lawrence.
"It showed that he’d had damage before and that there was a bit of scar tissue in there and that was affected.
"But he’s come in this morning and he’s feeling all right, so fingers crossed he’ll be fine.”
But the Town boss says he’ll not risk the 23-year-old Wales international if there is a doubt about his fitness: "We’ve a duty of care to him as much as anything. He’s been great for us. We use him, we can’t abuse him.”
Regarding Rowe, he added: "He’s fine, he hadn’t trained for two and a half weeks, he’s kind of behind it a little bit. But he looked sharp and bright and I’m delighted he’s in here.”
McCarthy added Reading striker Dominic Samuel and Cardiff midfielder Emyr Huws on loan on deadline day and he says both moves could potentially become permanent switches.
"Possibly,” he said. "Emyr Huws is a player of a real quality and he was of real promise when he was at Manchester City and he’s had a number of loan deals.
"He went to Cardiff and Neil Warnock picked and prepared his first team when Emyr was away on international duty and prepared his team and they’ve done all right since and he’s never got back in. He’s trained today and he’s trained really well.
"Dominic Samuel, he’s certainly got something, just watching him on training today, he’s got goals in him. He hits the target when he gets in, he was bright, he did well this morning.”
Samuel is ineligible against his parent club on Saturday but McCarthy says Huws will be in the squad from which he will pick his matchday 18.
Myles Kenlock remains out with his calf problem but isn't too far away from a return to action, while Tommy Smith is expected to play for the U23s next week having returned to training after his back operation.
Still sidelined are Adam Webster (ankle), Jonny Williams (shoulder), Luke Hyam and Giles Coke (both knee).